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Show for fraudulent entry has grown. Critical examina- tion of mining claims also began at this time, and a reduction in such speculative claims resulted. But experience has pointed to the fact that per- haps 50 percent of all claim locations since 1910 are actually fraudulent. Such claims that finally go to patent are subsequently used as public service sites, resort and summer home sites, commercial recreation areas, range land, or merely held for speculative purposes. Few of such areas show any sign of mineral development once the patent has been obtained. In one national forest in northern Utah, a group of claims aggregating 15,000 acres has been pat- ented under placer mining law. No mineral de- velopment work has been done on the site in 19 years. All the timber has been cut, and the area is heavily grazed. The area is in the heart of a big game hunting country, controls many of the best camping sites, and is posted against hunting. Ero- sion brought about by land use is most serious because it affects local irrigation water supplies.32 At present, about 6,000 mining claims are active on the national forests in the basin, involving about 200,000 acres of land. Of these, only about 25 per- cent are considered valid, and only 3 percent are actually producing. The timber values involved, however, amount to about 1 million dollars. Conclusions (1) Federal lands in the Colorado Basin should be so managed that adequate watershed protection is attained among other objectives. Water re- sources are so vital that water and soil should be important considerations in well balanced, stability- inducing Federal land administration. Present legislation for such lands should there- fore be examined in the light of this policy, so that enabling acts may be modified to agree with it. The administration of all Federal lands covered under acts establishing adequate water and soil protection as unavoidable objectives of manage- ment should be reviewed by the responsible agen- cies. Administration of Federal lands not in full accord with these policies should be brought into complete harmony with them just as expeditiously as circumstances permit. Each Federal land administrative agency should examine closely its regulations and practices regarding land use to insure that they satisfactorily ** U. S. Forest Service. meet watershed objectives. Where they do not meet objectives and enabling legislation is weak, recommendations should be made so that any barrier, administrative or legal, may be removed at the earliest practicable date. No Federal land resource should be turned over to private individ- uals or agencies for a monetary return without re- quiring, as a minimum, that practices be followed on these lands that fully protect watershed values. With the adoption of such a policy and pro- gram, greater coordination of activities will be pos- sible among the Federal land administrative agencies. (2) A uniform Federal policy for grazing fees should be adopted for all Federal range lands. Payments for grazing use of the range should be brought more into harmony with the actual value of range forage. (3) Some uniform method of providing a more stable and uniform aid to local governments in lieu of taxes should be developed. At present, dif- ferent rates of payment create confusion among the local governments and so obstruct watershed man- agement programs. (4) States should be encouraged to take a more active interest in their lands. It is to their interest to consolidate their holdings whenever possible. Such consolidation would probably result in greater returns from sales and more ready markets. Local public lands when intermingled with fed- erally managed lands should be placed under the jurisdiction of an agreed upon, common respon- sible agency for management. Because of the re- lation of these local lands to the water resource and its development in the basin, no use of the public land resources should be permitted that would damage soil and water resources. (5) The effect of improved watershed man- agement on the availability of water in the streams and ground water reservoirs of the basin, and the relation of such management to the terms of the Colorado River Compact, should be studied. (6) Mining laws should be revised so as to prohibit fraudulent entry. Such revisions would prevent loss of public and private property and values, and injury to public resources and water use and control. Except as needed for operational purposes, the surface should remain in public con- trol or ownership. They should permit and assist bona fide developments to produce minerals, and remove cause for unjust reflection on the mining industry which present laws occasion. 411 |